


First Impressions

by pyrrhical (anoyo)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Always-that-Gender, Gen, Genderswap, Rewritten Scene, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 17:44:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13217727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anoyo/pseuds/pyrrhical
Summary: Harry watched Hagrid go, with more than a little trepidation. She knew she could find the Leaky Cauldron if she needed to, that wasn’t the worry. No, the worry was the shop in front of her, the money in her pocket, and her utter lack of any experience shopping for clothes.





	First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Acts_of_Tekla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acts_of_Tekla/gifts).



> So this is for the lovely Acts_of_Tekla, who requested Harry Potter genderswap, with the character having always been that gender. This is the first thing I thought of, and I really, really enjoyed writing it.
> 
> There are some pieces taken directly from Sorcerer's Stone, so I must add: no copyright infringement is intended, as this is a literary exercise to take a scene and change it, so that the perspective is modified based on the single-variable change.
> 
> Beta'd by the wonderful dirty_diana.

Harry watched Hagrid go, with more than a little trepidation. She knew she could find the Leaky Cauldron if she needed to, that wasn’t the worry. No, the worry was the shop in front of her, the money in her pocket, and her utter lack of any experience shopping for clothes. 

Dudley’s handoffs -- boys’ clothes, all -- had been all she’d ever worn. Would her uniform have a skirt? Those long stockings Harry always saw the girls wearing?

She pushed her way through the doors, the “Madam Malkin’s Robes” sign swinging overhead, and stopped in the entryway. A woman waited inside, dressed all in mauve, with a kind smile on her face. 

The woman paused in what she was doing and asked, “Hogwarts, dear?”

Harry paused, them managed, “Er, yes,” before the woman was putting an arm around her shoulders and bustling her to the back of the shop.

“Don’t you worry, I’ve got the lot up in here,” the woman said, presumably Madam Malkin herself, as she got Harry up on a stool, next to a boy with a pale, pointed face.

Harry stood upon the stool for only a few seconds before Madam Malkin had a robe over her head and had begun pinning away, shortening the sleeves and the hem. With the robe to cover Dudley’s baggy, patched leftovers, Harry let herself glance in the wall-length mirror to the side. She thought that maybe, this was what she’d look like in a dress.

While Madam Malkin was pinning, the boy next to Harry said, “Hello.” Harry turned to look at him and met his funny grey eyes. “Hogwarts, too?” the boy continued.

“Yes,” Harry answered. 

The boy paused, then said, “I’m Draco. My mother says it’s impolite not to introduce yourself to girls. I’m not sure why it’s different from boys.” He shrugged.

“Er,” Harry began awkwardly. “I’m Harry. Harriett.”

Draco nodded shortly, then continued in a bored, drawling voice. “My father’s next door buying my books and Mother’s up the street looking at wands.” He paused, and Harry could see a very small smile on the boy’s face. “Then I’m going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don’t see why first years can’t have their own. I think I’ll bully Father into getting me one, and I’ll smuggle it in somehow.”

Whatever polite opinion Harry had been forming about the boy wilted with an abrupt comparison to Dudley. 

“Have _you_ got your own broom?” the boy went on.

“No,” said Harry.

“Play Quidditch at all?”

“No,” Harry said again, wondering if Quidditch was one of the boys’ sports that Dudley and Uncle Vernon turned off whenever Harry was around, or if it was just some sort of magical sport. Or if, maybe, the boy was having him on.

“ _I_ do -- Father says it’s a crime if I’m not picked to play for my House, and I must say, I agree. Know what House you’ll be in yet?”

“No,” said Harry, feeling more and more stupid by the minute. 

“Mm,” Draco said, then paused. “Oh, are you from one of those families that don’t think girls ought to play Quidditch? We know a few, though Father says they’re misinformed and backwards.”

“Ah,” Harry said, feeling her face flush, “no.”

Draco nodded, then started. “I say, look at that man!” He nodded toward the front window, where Hagrid was standing. Hagrid was pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn’t come in.

Harry smiled. “That’s Hagrid,” she said, pleased to finally know something that Draco didn’t. “He works at Hogwarts.”

“Oh,” said the boy, “I’ve heard of him. He’s a sort of servant, isn’t he?”

“He’s the gamekeeper,” Harry said sharply, scowling at yet another reminder of Dudley in the boy’s attitude.

The boy opened his mouth, then paused. “Mother says I oughtn’t upset girls,” Draco said, finally.

Harry scowled harder. “Why not?” she asked.

Draco frowned. “How am I supposed to know?” he asked. “But Mother said it, so it must be true.”

“Didn’t you think girls might get upset by being told you oughtn’t upset them?” Harry asked, crossing her arms and sticking herself with a pin in the process, causing a small jump and ruffle that had a few more pins adding their hellos. 

“ _No_ ,” the boy said, scowling. “Why is the gamekeeper with you, anyway? Where are your parents?”

“They’re dead,” Harry said shortly.

“Oh,” Draco said, scowling more fiercely. “Sorry.” He didn’t sound particularly sorry. He sounded more like he’d been been told to suck a lemon, and was imitating the effects it might have. Draco glanced at the ground, then back to Harry. “They were _our_ kind, though, weren’t they?”

Harry puzzled for a moment on what he might mean, then frowned. “They were a witch and wizard, if that’s what you mean.”

Draco nodded, as if satisfied. Harry found it only made her more irritated. “I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you?” Draco asked, obviously trying for a change in conversation. “They’re just not the same. They’ve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families.” He paused. “What’s your surname, anyway? Mine’s Malfoy.”

Before Harry could answer -- to say what, she didn’t know -- Madam Malkin said, “That’s you done, my dear.” Harry waited for Madam Malkin to pull the robe back over her head, careful not to nudge or misplace any of the pins, then hopped down from the stool. 

“Well, I’ll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose,” Draco said, watching Harry go. Harry could see his eyes on Dudley’s baggy hand-me-downs, unseen, before, beneath the fitting robe.

Harry made her order with Madam Malkin -- it turned out the uniform did have a skirt, she learned, not sure whether that made her more nervous or excited -- and then walked to the door, before pausing. “You will,” she said, looking back at Draco. “And it’s Potter.”

**Author's Note:**

> (And yes, the literary allusion was intended.)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Girl on Girl (The First Impressions Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15955571) by [Prinzenhasserin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prinzenhasserin/pseuds/Prinzenhasserin)




End file.
